Lasting machine



March 9, 1937.

w. T. B. ROBERTS 2,073,028

LASTING MACHINE Filed June 27, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 mgw,

March 1937- W. T. B. ROBERTS 2 LASTING MACHINE Filed June 27, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig. 3

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Patented Mar. 9, 1937 UNITED STATES LASTING MACHINE,

William Thomas Buckingham Roberts, Leicester, England, assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Paterson, N. J., a corporation New Jersey Application June 21-, 1935, Serial No. 28,681

In Great Britain August 22, 1934 16 Claims.

This invention relates to lasting machines, and in some aspects more particularly to toelasting means in lasting machines of the bed 7 type. Such machines commonly include toe s wipers so controlled that by the movement of a hand lever they are advanced lengthwise of the last and are also closed inwardly widthwise of the last through distances proportional to the amount of their advancing movement. In praclO tice it is customary first to wipe thetoe end of the upper heightwise of the last after advancing and closing the wipers about the toe sufficiently to render their wiping edges effective in such an upwiping operation, and then to wipe the T marginal portion of the upper inwardly over the bottom of the last by further advancingand closing movements of the wipers. Under some conditions, especially in operating on welt shoes, it is desirable to effect the upwiping operation 3 with the edges of the wipers spaced farther from the toe-end face of the last than from the side faces of the last, in order to avoid any such lengthwise strain on the toe end of the upper as might distort the toe tip line. The wipers may 5 accordingly be so positioned in the upwiping operation as not to press the upper with any substantial force against the extreme toe-end face of the last, although acting with effective pressure at the sides of the toe. In that case itis $0 necessary for satisfactory results in wiping the upper thereafter inwardly'over the bottom of the last to impart to the wipers a bodily advancing movement lengthwise of the last in addition to their normal advancing and closing movements 35 above referred to as resulting from the operation of the hand lever, so that on welt work, forexample, the margin of the upper will be pressed inward closely against the lip of the insole at the end of the toe as well as at the sidesof the toe.

40 Such additional advancing movement, in the operation of well-known bed-lasting machines in common use, is imparted tothe wipers by meansof a hand wheel operated independently of theabove-mentioned hand lever, the hand wheel 45 controlling'means which supports and guides the wipers, as disclosed, for example, in United States Letters Patent No. 1,018,477, granted on February 27, 1912 upon an application of MatthiasBrock.

50 The present invention provides wiper op'erating means so constructed that the wipers, although used to wipe the upper heightwise of the last with but little, if any, pressure against the toeend face of the last, as above described, will yet 55 produce-satisfactory results at the end aswell as the sides of the toe in wiping the upper inwardly over the bottom of the last without special attention on the operator's part. For the purpose in view, the construction herein shown comprises mechanism operated by a hand lever for impart- 5 ing to the wipers not only advancing and closing movements as heretofore in the use of such a lever, but also an additional advancing movement so that-the portions of their wiping edges which are opposite the end face of thelast in the upwiping operation will be in the proper position at the end of the overwiping operation. As herein illustrated, there is provided a bell-crank lever operated at a predetermined time by the hand lever to impart a short movement lengthwise of the last to a wiper holder having means thereon which determines the paths of thenjormal advancing and closing movements of the wipers, the bell-crank lever having in one arm thereof a cam slot in which lies an operating roll carried by the hand lever. By this means, the wipers are caused to advance'ashort distance without any substantial closing movement. Preferably the additional advancing movement is thus imparted to the wipers substantially at the beginning of the movement of the hand lever for wiping the margin of the upper inwardly after the upwiping operation, so that the wipers will begin their overwiping action at the end of the toe at substantially the same time as at the sides of the toe. The construction shown, however, is further such that, the time in the movement of the hand lever when the additional advancing movement is imparted to the wipers and also the amount of such additional movement may be varied.

The novel features of the invention will now be more particularly described by reference to the accompanying drawings and thereafter pointed out in the claims. 40

In the drawings, i

Fig. 1 is a plan view, with partsbroken away,

3 of a portion of a lasting machine-"in which the invention is embodied; i

Fig. 2 is a view of the same portion of the machine in front elevation, with parts broken away;

Fig. 3 is a plan view on an enlarged scale i1 lustrating more fully, by reference to a shoe, how the toe wipers are operated; and

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view of certain parts hereinafter described.

The invention is herein illustrated as applied to a toe-lasting machine of the same general character as disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 1,993,117, granted-Ol'l March 5,1935

upon an application of W. T. B. Roberts, although it is to be understood that the invention is applicable to lasting machines of various types, including machines of the type disclosed in the previously mentioned Letters Patent No. 1,018,- 4'77. The machine includes a vertically movable trunk I which :supports, by -means hereinafter described, a bo'xlike wiper holder 3 provided with a pair of toe-embracing wipers 5. It has also a hand lever I for advancing and closing the wipers, and shoe-positioning means, including an insole-engaging plate 9 and a toe rest l6 whereby the shoe is clamped-and held and is moved lengthwise to a predetermined position for the toe-lasting operation, as fully disclosed in the above-mentioned Letters Patent No. 1,993,117. The wipers 5 are detachably secured to carrier plates or carriers H provided with cam slots 13 in which lie rolls l5 mounted on vertical studs I6 which are fast on the wiper holder 3. The carrier plates l I are connected by links I! to the pp'osite ends of across-bar l9 securedto the righthandend of a horizontal sliding rod 2| the lefthand end of,which is connected by a link 23 to the hand lever 1. The hand lever is pivotally mounted at its rear end on a vertical pin 24 secured to a bracket 25 which is fast on a head casting 26 on. which the wiper holder 3 is directly supported. It will be understood that swinging movement of the hand lever 7 toward the right serves to advance the wipers bodily lengthwise of the shoe and that as they are thus advanced they are so guided by the rolls 15 in thecam slots l3 that they receive swinging or closing movements widthwise of the shoe proportionalto the amount of their advancing movement. Movement of the hand lever toward the leftserves toretract the wipers lengthwise of theshoe and to open them. V

As distinguished from the disclosure of Letters PatentNo. 1,993,117, the wiper holder 3 in the construction herein shown is so mounted as to permit it to be moved a short distance, preferably about a quarter of an inch, in directions lengthwise of the shoe, and the holder is thus moved toward the right by the operation of the hand lever 'l to impart to the wipers an additional advancing movement lengthwise of the shoe. For this purpose the wiper holder 3 has a cylindrical sleeve 21 extending from it toward the left and mounted in bearings in the head casting 26, the sleevebeing held in place in these bearings by bearing members 28 which are spaced apart along the sleeve and are bolted to the casting 26. For adjustingthe wipers in proper relation to the bottom face of the toe end of the shoe the holder 3 can be turned about the axis of the sleeve 21 by rotation of a hand lever 29 secured on a threaded stem 30 which is mounted in a bracket on the casting 26 and is connected by means not herein shown to a ring 3| fast on the sleeve 21. Further to position the wipers in proper-relation to the shoe the head casting 26 is adjustable about a transverse horizontal pivot 32' on the trunk l by rotation of a hand lever 33 fast on a threaded stem 34 supported in a lug on the casting 26 and mounted at its lower end in a trunnion (not shown) on the trunk I.

The ring 3| secured to the sleeve ZT-as above described is mounted between the two bearing members 28 and is of considerably less width than the space between these membersto permit the movements of the sleeve and the wiper holder 3 lengthwise of the shoe. To effect these movements there is supported on the front end of the left-hand bearing member 28 a horizontal bellcrank lever 35 having a curved arm 36 which extends rearwardly in transverse relation to the axis of the sleeve 2'! and a second curved arm 31 which extends toward the left in a direction lengthwise of the sleeve. The bell-crank lever 35 is mounted to swing about the axis of a cylindrical boss 39 projecting downwardly from it into a bearing formed in the member 23 and is held against upward movement by a stem M (Fig. 2) extending upwardly through a hollow stem 43 which is threaded in the bearing member 28 and has a head 44 on its lower end to assist in holding the bearing member in place. The stem 4| is threaded in the boss 39 and has nuts 45 on its lower end overlapping the head 44 of the stem 43.

. The rearwardly extending arm 36 of the bellcrank lever 35 is provided with a T-shaped groove in its right-hand side (Fig. 4) and within this groove is housed a U-shaped slide 46. This slide is normally held in a fixed position relatively to the arm 36 by a spring-pressed ball 41 carried by the slide and arranged to enter one or another of a plurality of curved recesses formed in the arm 36 at the lower ends of holes 49 in the arm. It will be understood that theslide 46, can be adjusted along the groove to positionit at dif ferent distances from the axis of the bell-crank lever when sufiicient pressure is exerted upon it to cause the ball 47 to ride out of the recess in' which it lies.

' The slide 46 has freely rotatable in it a short vertical pin 5| in which is secured a horizontal pin 53. A small bifurcated sleeve 55 is piv'.

otally mounted on the pin 53, and threaded in this sleeve is a rod 5'! which extends toward the right to a position over the wiper holder 3. The rod 51 has a ball-shaped right-hand end which is housed within a spherical cavity provided between the upper face of a block 58 fast on 'the' wiper holder 3 and a cap plate 59 on the block. By this means the wiper holder 3 and the bellcrank lever 35 are coupled together, the rod 5'! having universal joint connections at its opposite ends with the holder 3 and the arm 36 of the lever. The curved arm 36 is normally concentric with the ball joint connection between the rod 51 and the holder 3, so that adjustment of the slide 46 along its guideway in the arm will not affect the position of the bell-crank lever or of the wiper holder,

The arm 31 of the bell-crank lever 35 has therein a cam slot 6| in which lies a roll 63 carslot in the wiper-operating movement of the hand lever 7 it acts to swing therearwardly extending arm 36 of the bell-crank lever toward the right and thus to move the wiper holder 3 with its guide rolls I5 also toward the right. The result of such advancing movement of the wiper holder 3 and the advancing movement of the wiper-operating rod 21 effected simultaneously by the movement of the hand lever l is to cause the wipers to advance bodily lengthwise of the shoe with but little, if any, closing m ment toward each other. The farther the slide 46 is adjusted along the arm 36 away from the l mounted on the pin 24 about which the hand lever 1 swings and is secured to the lever by a bolt 69 which passes through a transverse slot in the plate. It will thus be seen that the plate 65 may be adjusted to vary the position of the roll 63 relatively to the hand lever and thus to vary the time in the swinging movement of the lever when the roll acts to impart the swinging movement to the bell-crank lever 35. The plate is preferably so adjusted that by the time the hand lever I has been swung toward the right far enough to bring the edges of the wipers into firm pressing engagement with the sides of the toe end of the shoe below the level of the shoe bottom preparatory to the upwiping operation, the roll 63 will have just reached the lefthand end of the forwardly curved portion 61 of the slot 6|. The roll is thus ready to impart the additional advancing movement to the wipers substantially at the beginning of the further operative movement of the hand lever after the upwiping operation. The slide 46 may, however, be adjusted along the arm 36 to a position over the boss 39, in which case the movement of the bell-crank lever will impart no move- 35 ment to the wiper holder 3, and accordingly the wipers will receive only such advancing and closing movements as are determined by the cam slots l3 and the rolls I5.

Prior to use of the machine for lasting shoes of 40 a given style and size the shoe-positioning means will have been so adjusted, as by movement of the threaded sleeve I55 shown in the abovementioned Letters Patent No. 1,993,117, that in the upwiping operation the edges 'of the wipers will be spaced a substantial distance, for example a quarter of an inch, farther from the end face of the last than from the side faces of the last, as illustrated in Fig. 3, the edges of the wipers being spaced from the side faces only by the thickness of the upper materials. After such adjustment the operator positions and clamps the shoe in the manner disclosed in the above-mentioned Letters Patent, closes the wipers about the toe by movement of the hand lever 1 until the wipers bear firmly against the shoe at the sides of the toe below the level of the shoe bottom, and then raises the trunk l by the treadle provided for effecting the upwiping operation, controlling the margin of the upper by hand in this operation in the usual manner. At the end of the upwiping operation the operator moves the hand lever l farther to the right, whereupon the bell-crank lever 35 is immediately operated by the roll 63 to impart 5 an advancing movement to the wiper holder 3 and its guide rolls l5 as the wipers are being operated by the rod 2|. The wipers are accordingly advanced bodily lengthwise of the shoe a distance corresponding substantially to the excess of clearance between their edges and the end face of the last over the clearance between their edges and the sides of the last in the upwiping operation. This brings their edges sub stantially adjacent to the edge of the shoe bottom atthe end of the toe prior to the beginning of their closing'movements over the shoe bottom, as indicated by the dot-and-dash line in Fig. 3. As the wipers are thereafter simultaneously advanced and closed by further movement of the hand lever to effect the overwiping operation they will bear on the upper with substantially equal efficiency at the end and sides of the toe and at the end of their overwiping movement will press the margin of the upper closely against the lip of the insole all around the toe. The toe portion of the upper will then be secured in lasted position in the usual manner, as by use of. a binder wire fastened'to the shoe with tacks. It will thus be seen that although the upper is wiped heightwise of the last without any substantial pressure against the end face of the. last, for the purpose hereinbefore described, the wipers are nevertheless so controlled, without special attention on the part of the operator, that they wipe the upper inwardly over the in sole all around the toe in the manner required for the best results.

The threaded rod 51 which connects the lever arm 36 to the wiper holder 3 as hereinbefore de-' scribed, may, if desired, be rotated to vary the effective length of the connection between the lever arm and the wiper holder and thus to adjust the latter lengthwise of the shoe without substantially altering the relation of the wipers to each other.

It will be recognized that wiper-operating' means such as herein disclosed may be utilized, if desired, for operating heel-lasting wipers as well as toe wipers.

Having described the invention, 'what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a lasting machine, wipers for embracing an upper about the toe end of a last, means for effecting relative movement of said wipers and the last to wipe the upper heightwise of the last with the edges of the wipers closer to the sides of the last than to the end face of the last, a wiper-operating member, and means for imparting to the wipers by the movement of said member, after the wiping of the upper heightwise of the last, advancing movement lengthwise of the last with substantially no closing movement widthwise of the last until the edges of the wipers are substantially as close to the edge of the shoe bottom at the end of the toe as at the sides of the toe and for then imparting to them by fur ther movement of said member simultaneous advancing and closing movements to wipe the marginal portion of the upper inwardly over the shoe bottom at the end and the sides of the toe.

, 2. In a lasting machine, wipers for embracing an upper about the toe end of a last, means for effecting relative movement of said wipers and the last to wipe the upper heightwise of the last with the edges of the wipers closer to the sides of the last than to the end face of the last, a wiper-operating hand lever, and means for imparting to the wipers by the movement of said hand lever, after the wiping of the upper heightwise of the last, advancing movement lengthwise of the last while maintaining them in substantially the same relation to each other and for thereafter further advancing them by said hand lever while also imparting to them closing movement widthwise of the last.

3. In a lasting machine, wipers for embracing an upper about the toe end of a last, means for effecting relative movement of said wipers and the last to wipe the upper heightwise of the last with the edges of the wipers closer, to the sides of the last than to the end face of the-last, a wiper-operating member, guiding means to cause the wipers when operated by said member to have components of movement both lengthwise-and widthwise of the last, and mechanism for also operating said guiding means by the movement of said member, after the wiping of the upper heightwise of the last, to cause the wipers to receive a movement lengthwise of the last in addition to the components of movement determined by the guiding means.

4. In a lasting machine, wipers for embracing an upper about the'toe endof a last, means for effecting relative movement of said wipers and the last to wipe the upper heightwise of the last with the edges of the wipers closer to the sides of the last than to the end face of the last, a wiper-operating hand lever, a wiper holder relatively to which the wipers are movable bodily lengthwise of the last and are at the same time movable also widthwise of the last by the movement of said hand lever, means on the wiper holder for determining the paths of such movement of the wipers, and means also operated by said hand lever for moving the wiper holder lengthwise of the last, after the wiping of the upper heightwise of the last, to cause the wipers to receive a movement lengthwise of the last in addition to their movement in thepaths determined by the means on said holder.

5. In a lasting machine, wipers for embracing an upper about an end of a last, a member movable by the operator to operate said wipers, guiding means to cause the wipers when operated by said member to have components of movement both lengthwise and widthwise of the last while said guiding means is held against movement lengthwise of the last, and mechanism for also moving said guiding means lengthwise of the last by the movement of said member during a portion only of the wiper-operating movement of the member to cause the wipers to receive a movement lengthwise of the last in addition to the components of movement determined by the guiding means.

6. In a lasting machine, wipers for embracing an upper about an endof a last, a wiper holder relatively to which the wipers are movable bodily lengthwise of the last and are at the same time movable also widthwise of the last, means controlled by said wiper holder for determining the paths of such movement of the wipers, a hand lever, connections between said hand lever and the wipers for operating them, and additional connections between the hand lever and the wiper iolder f or moving the Wiper holder lengthwise of the last during a portion only of the wiper-operating movement of the hand lever.

7. In a lasting machine, wipers for embracing an upperabout an end of a last,a wiper holder relatively to which the wipers are movable bothlengthwise and widthwise of the last, means controlled by said wiper holder for determining the paths of such movement of the wipers, the wiper holder also being mounted for movement lengthwise of the last, and a member movable by the operator both to move the wipers in said paths relatively to the wiper holder and also to move the wiper holder during a portion only of the wiper-operating movement of said member.

8. In a lasting machine, wipers for embracing an upper about an end of a last, wiper carriers supporting said wipers and having cam slots therein, a wiper holder relatively to which said wiper carriers are movable with the wipers, members on said wiper holder arranged to lie in :said

cam slots to determine the pathsof such move-' ment of the wiper carriers and the wipers, a hand lever connected to the wiper carriers for operating the wipers, and mechanism arranged to be operated by said hand lever for imparting to the wiper holder a movement lengthwise 01' the last during a portion only of the wiper-operating movement of the hand lever.

9. In a lasting machine, wipers for embracing an upper about an end of a last, a wiper holder, means controlled by said wiper holder for guiding the wipers for movement in predetermined paths lengthwise and widthwise of the last relatively to the wiper holder, a hand lever connected ,to the wipers for operating them, another lever connected to the wiper holder, and means for operating said other lever by the movement of the hand lever to impart to the wiper holder a movement lengthwise of the last during a portion only of the wiper-operating movement of the hand lever.

10. In a lasting machine, wipers for embracing. an upper about an end of a last, a wiper holder, means controlled by said wiper holder for guiding the wipers for movement in predetermined paths relatively to the wiper holder, a hand lever connected to the wipers for operating them, a bell; crank lever, means connecting one arm of said bell-crank lever to the wiper holder, the other arm of said bell-crank lever having a cam slot therein, and a member carried by said hand leverv and arranged to act in said cam slot to impart to the wiper holder through said bell-crank lever a movement lengthwise of the last during a portion only of the wiper-operating movement of the hand lever.

11. In a lasting machine, wipers for embracing an upper about an end of a last, a member movable by the operator to operate said wipers, means controlled by said member for advancing and closing the wipers during a portion of the movement of the member, and additional means separately operated by said member to'cause the wipers to advance without any substantial closing movement during another portion of the movement of the member, said additional means being adjustable to vary the amount of such advance of the wipers without substantial closing move-- ment.

12. In a lasting machine, wipers for embracing an upper about an end of a last, a wiper holder relatively to which the wipers are movable both lengthwise and widthwise of the last, means controlled by said wiper holder for determining the paths of such movement of the wipers, a member movable by the operator to operate the Wipers, and mechanism arranged to be operated by said member for imparting to the wiper holder movement lengthwise of the last during a portion only of the movement of the member, said mechanism being adjustable to vary the amount of such movement of the wiper holder.

13. In a lasting machine, wipers for embracing an upper about an end of a last, a wiper holder relatively to which the wipers are movable both lengthwise and widthwise of the last, means controlled by said wiper holder for determining the paths of such movement of the wipers, a hand,

lever for operating the wipers, a bell-crank lever arranged to be operated by said hand lever, and a connection betweenone arm of said-bell-crank lever and the wiper holder for moving the wiper holder also lengthwise of the last, said connection being adjustable along said arm to vary the amount of such movement of the wiper holder. 14. In a lasting machine, wipers for embracing an upper about an end of a last, a wiper holder relatively to which the wipers are movable both 5 lengthwise and widthwise of the last, means controlled by said wiper holder for determining the paths of such movement of the wipers, a member movable by the operator to operate the wipers, and mechanism arranged to be operated by said 10 member for imparting to the Wiper holder movement lengthwise of the last, said mechanism being adjustable at will to eliminate such movement of the wiper holder.

15. In a lasting machine, wipers for embracing 15 an upper about an end of a last, a member movable by the operator to operate said wipers, and means controlled by said member for advancing and closing the wipers during a portion of the movement of the member and for advancing 20 them without any substantial closing movement during another portion of the movement of the member, said means being adjustable to vary the time in the movement of said member when the wipers are thus advanced relatively to the time when they are advanced and closed.

16. In a lasting machine, wipers for embracing an upper about an end of a last, a wiper holder relatively to which the wipers are movable both lengthwise and widthwise of the last, means controlled by said wiper holder for determining the paths of such movement of the wipers, a hand lever connected to the wipers for operating them, another lever connected to the wiper holder and having a cam slot therein, and a member carried by said hand lever and arranged to act in said cam slot to impart to the wiper holder through said other lever a movement lengthwise of the last during a portion only of the wiper-operating movement, of the hand lever, said member'being adjustable relatively to the hand lever to vary the time in the movement of the hand lever when said other lever is operated.

WILLIAM THOMAS BUCKINGHAM ROBERTS. 

